


The Winter Soldier vs. The Muppets

by Pheylan



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Muppets on the internet, happy ending because Muppets, spoilers for The Muppet Movie, surprise former brainwashed assassin angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3132554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheylan/pseuds/Pheylan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Bucky discovers the Muppets and it's all good fun until it's not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Winter Soldier vs. The Muppets

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to just be fluffy. It mostly still is. However, upon rewatching The Muppet Movie for research purposes, I found that I'd forgotten about That One Scene that Bucky Would Not Like. So, I decided to write it anyway.
> 
> Thank you, Cluegirl, for again giving me an honest beta and Hubby for assisting with grammar.

Steve was pulled out of the story he was reading by the sound of chuckling. He looked up from his spot on the couch to see Bucky sprawled sideways in an armchair with his earbuds in, grinning at his laptop. A moment later, he was laughing outright. Steve was quite sure he hadn’t heard Bucky laugh since the ‘40s.

 

“What’s so funny?” he asked, trying to keep it casual.

 

Bucky looked up at him with a grin, looking more like the person Steve remembered than he had since he showed up in the lobby of Avengers Tower a month earlier. “Muppets.”

 

“Muppets?” Steve asked.

 

“Yeah. Okay.” Bucky bounced up from his chair and landed next to Steve on the couch. “I was playing the YouTube game with Queen and it led me to the Muppets.”

 

“YouTube is a website,” Steve said slowly. “Queen could be any number of things, and I’m still lost on Muppets.”

 

Bucky sighed with some exaggeration. “Do you listen to _any_ modern music?”

 

“I like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy,” Steve responded.

 

“That’s still swing,” Bucky said, narrowing his eyes at Steve. “I’m talking about rock and roll.”

 

Steve made a face. “I’m not terribly fond of screaming cats, thanks.”

 

“You are such a grandpa,” Bucky groused, rolling his eyes. “So _anyway_ , Queen was recommended to me. I plugged them into YouTube and then randomly hit videos. Some of the videos are other people performing Queen songs.” He settled back on the couch and called out, “Jarvis, please bring up Queen’s version of Bohemian Rhapsody on the big screen.”

 

A moment later the television came to life and Steve was floored by what he heard. His exposure to rock music was normally loud enough to hurt, but Jarvis had the sound tuned to super soldier hearing. Electric guitar was actually pretty swell when it wasn’t making his ears bleed. And the lead singer’s voice…

 

“Wow! What kind of range does that guy have?” Steve exclaimed when it was done.

 

“An amazing one,” Bucky replied. “So, Jarvis, please play the Muppet version of Bohemian Rhapsody.”

 

Steve found himself watching the same song, but with puppets. And it was hysterical. It started out pretty true to the original video, but soon veered off into weird territory.  

 

“Okay, that was pretty funny,” Steve admitted when it was done.

 

“Oh, that’s just the start,” Bucky informed him. “Jarvis, Ode to Joy, please.”

 

They ended up watching several more music videos while Bucky looked up information about the Muppets on Wikipedia.

 

“So, they are key characters in a kids’ show called Sesame Street, and they had several shows of their own,” Bucky told Steve. “Jarvis, do you have any of these on file?”

 

“I have access to all the Muppet TV series and also the movies. Shall we start with The Muppet Show? This series is old enough that there were a few guests that you might recognize.” Jarvis replied.

 

Bucky grinned at Steve. “You wanna? You don’t have anything else planned today.”

 

“Sure,” Steve said.

 

***

The next couple of weeks saw a lot of Muppets in Steve’s apartment. The sketch comedy style of the show reminded the guys of some of the radio shows that they had loved, down to having guests that they recognized (although on the opposite end of their careers). The short episodes also meant they were easy to get through when Bucky was having a Bad Day or Steve was trying to Not Punch Someone.

 

“So, the first movie came out after this season,” Bucky mentioned as they watched the credits of the Danny Kaye episode. “We don’t have to watch all the shows before watching the movie.”

 

“Are you saying that you’d like to go ahead and watch the movie?” Steve asked as he debated the merits of getting up for a drink versus dislodging Bucky from where he was snuggled into Steve’s side.

 

“Yeah,” Bucky confirmed. “But after dinner, I think.” He rearranged himself slightly so his head was in Steve’s lap. “We could watch another episode and then eat.”

 

They started up the movie shortly after dinner and it was a lot of fun. There was music. There was dancing. There were bad jokes. There were chase scenes. And there was a plot, but not enough to detract from the fun.

 

About an hour in, Kermit and Miss Piggy were tied up in a barn when the bad guy (“Doc Hopper? Really?”) brought in a professor. The moment his jackbooted heels clicked and he started talking, Bucky tensed up.

 

“You okay?” Steve asked.

 

“Yeah,” Bucky replied sitting up with his eyes glued to the screen. “Shh.”

 

On the TV Doc Hopper said, “Professor Krassman is the world’s leading authority on mind control in frogs.”

 

Bucky gasped.

 

“Buck, we don’t – “ Steve started.

 

“Shh! I’m fine.”

 

On screen, Professor Krassman explained how they were going to perform an electronic cerebrectomy on Kermit. He called to henchmen off stage and a computer with a frog sized electric chair attached was brought in.

 

Bucky’s breathing sped up. Steve glanced between his partner and the screen a couple of times and then said, “No, let’s shut – “ At that point the professor threw a switch which set off electric effects in the chair and Bucky bolted. “Shit! Turn it off Jarvis.”

 

Steve followed the sound of retching to the master bathroom. He waited patiently outside the door, knowing from experience that Bucky didn’t want him watching. A couple of minutes later he heard the toilet flush and then the sink run. Finally, a very shaken looking Bucky opened the door.

 

“Okay?” Steve asked as he stepped back to let Bucky out of the bathroom.

 

Bucky gave a jerky nod. “That’s not…” He took a couple of deep breaths and stepped into Steve’s space. “We probably should have looked up the plot.”

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Steve agreed, wrapping his arms around Bucky. “I didn’t think we’d need it for a kids’ movie.”

 

Bucky nodded and hugged in close to Steve. “I think Glenn Miller and reading until bedtime.”

 

“Sure thing, Buck.”

 

***

“KERMIT!”

 

Steve was abruptly dragged out of sleep by Bucky’s scream to find his partner sitting up in bed hyperventilating. He immediately sat up as well and wrapped himself around Bucky.

 

“It’s okay, Bucky. You were dreaming,” Steve soothed.

 

“No, Steve, no. We left him there…” Bucky panted out.

 

“Buck, Kermit is just a puppet – “

 

“He’s gonna get wiped, Steve!” Bucky turned and gripped Steve’s shoulders. “We can’t leave him…”

 

“Bucky! It was a movie!” Steve gripped Bucky’s shoulders back in desperation. “It’s just a kid’s movie! Nothing to get upset about!”

 

Bucky stared at Steve open mouthed for a moment. His breathing finally started to slow. “A kid’s movie.”

 

“Yeah, Buck. Nothing to get worked up over,” Steve said relaxing as the panic drained out of Bucky’s face.

 

“Okay.” Bucky closed his eyes a moment. “I need to finish it.”

 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Steve asked.

 

Bucky nodded and then opened his eyes. “I can’t leave it hanging there, Steve. It’s a kids’ movie. That means it will have a happy ending, right? So, I need to get past this scene. I need to see that it’s okay.”

 

“All right,” Steve replied. “In the morning – “

 

“No, now,” Bucky stated firmly. “I’m really not going back to sleep until I do, Steve. You don’t have to join me, though.”

 

“Like hell, I’m not,” Steve said with a grin. “I want to make sure he’s okay, too.”

 

Bucky managed a half grin and then they both got out of bed. Bucky grabbed the quilt as they headed to the living room. Soon they were back on the couch, wrapped up together. Steve asked Jarvis to start the movie at the beginning of the scene in the barn.

 

Bucky remained tense through what they’d already seen. As Kermit got strapped into the chair his breathing sped up again.

 

“Buck – “

 

“Shh!”

 

And then Miss Piggy happened. It wasn’t the best fight scene Steve had ever seen, but then again, it was a puppet fighting humans, so there was only so much that could be done. Bucky relaxed into Steve’s side as the scene ended and Miss Piggy fixed her hair.

 

For the next 30 minutes the movie went back to what it had been for the first hour – fun, music and pretty amazing special effects. And it ended on an uplifting note and a great song.

 

“Better?” Steve asked Bucky who was now definitely snuggling and no longer clinging to his side.

 

Bucky nodded. “I need you to promise me something, Stevie.”

 

“Okay, what?”

 

“If Hydra grabs me, you have to promise me to go Miss Piggy on them without waiting for the snide ham reference,” Bucky said with a straight face.

 

Steve looked at his partner for a moment before replying, “Of course I will, jerk.”

 

Bucky giggled. “Bedtime, punk.”

 

***

“So, I looked up the second Muppet movie and there are definitely no Nazi scientists in it,” Bucky said leaning over the back of the couch to head bump Steve.

 

“No Nazis is a good thing,” Steve replied looking up at Bucky.

 

“Also,” Bucky smirked, “Miss Piggy on a motorcycle.”

 

Steve grinned. “Well, how could we pass that up?”

 

Bucky jumped over the couch to cuddle into Steve. “Jarvis, cue the movie.” They said in unison.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just so's you know, all the Muppet references are real. Go watch their YouTube channel. It's amazing.
> 
> And you can find me on Tumblr at www.pheylan13.tumblr.com if you want to hear about my cats and my obsession with Marvel toys.


End file.
